And you give until your hands are empty
by singletunepoet
Summary: Swan Queen AU Slow burning romance.(Rating will go up.)Checking in with the branch offices of her mother s company, Regina meets Emma in Amsterdam and runs into difficulties that eventually lead to their evolving rivalry. It isn t until she is back home when her life takes a sudden turn, as one morning Henry is standing on her doorstep in need of help. (Magic in later chapters.)
1. Chapter 1

_**(Disclaimer: I don´t own the OUAT characters.)**_

"You idiot!" It sounded more frustrated than insulting when the brunette yelled at the quiet intern. "It wouldn´t hurt if you paid more attention, dear. What part about ´watering the _flowers_´is so difficult to comprehend?" Regina huffed while dabbing a napkin along her skirt where half of the water had accumulated after the vase on her desk had been knocked over. All the while Felix was fidgeting with the notebook that was soaking wet by now, trying to get it out of the water´s path and out of harm´s way. "I am so sorry. Het spijt me heel erg! It was an accident."

He shouldn´t have said that. He regretted it the moment the words had foolishly rolled off his tongue. The brunette´s head jerked up in one violently sharp move and brown eyes burned into his. "Correct me if I am wrong, Felix, but I am under the impression that you´re of the opinion little _accidents_ like _this_", she frantically gestured at her water soaked documents, "are acceptable."

He squinted. It almost looked comical, the way he tried to bury his head between his shoulders in order to appear smaller, less attackable. "It won´t happen again, Miss Mills, I promise. I am going to take care of this and, like I said, this won´t happen again."

She hesitated replying for a moment, looking sternly, yet, thoughtful. This young man was the only intern in the Amsterdam branch office who had been here long enough to know his way around. The thought of having to teach another intern wasn´t appealing at all. Especially with the upcoming expo. "You´re right", she agreed, "it _won´t _happen again." And with those words she turned around, heady footsteps leading her towards the door and out of her office.

"And Felix", he heard his boss requesting when she had almost left the room, "There are going to be new copies of each and every one of those documents on my desk when I come back."

She sighed when the cold winter air hit her as she stepped out of the building and right into the busy lane, finding it difficult to cross it even though it was so ridiculously small. Not being knocked over by a bicyclist seemed to be top priority and not an easy task to accomplish. Yet, she hadn´t heard of it actually happening so far. She soon found herself staring at the town canal absent mindedly for a break and a breath of fresh air. Why did she even have to be here? What had she done to deserve this? Couldn´t she just close her eyes, make a wish, click her heels or something like that and be back home? Home. Where was that now? Ever since her mother had past away a couple of months prior, Regina had had to move from one place to the other, taking care of branch offices all over Europe when she had always been responsible for the mother company in Maine. Mother company. She almost snorted at the ridiculousness of that. How ironic. It had always been her mother who´d done the travelling. She had had her hands and heart in every single one of the European offices. She sighed and allowed to admit to herself that the real reason for not making Felix pay for his unfortunate clumsy behaviour today was the fact that he had know her mother and he had been one of the last people to work with her, who had seen her before -

"Excuse me?" Regina was ripped from her thoughts by the voice of a boy, probably not older than twelve, who was trying to get her attention. She looked at him, scanning him up and down. He was balancing a tray with two to-go mugs on top of a pastry take it away box, all the while grinning at her in a perfectly happy state. His brown hair a bit damp from the winter drizzle, his red scarf utterly impractically tied so that it couldn't possibly keep him protected from the cold. He didn't seem to mind though.

"I am sorry, you were saying?" Regina was wondering how long that boy had been trying to get her to listen. "Erm, I would just like to pass, please. You're kind of blocking our driveway."

"Driveway?" she looked around, confused and the boy lifted one elbow trying to point into the direction he was headed to, the steaming to-go mugs swaying dangerously. When Regina's eyes followed his indicated target she sucked in a breath of realization. She was standing right in front of the part of the balustrade that gave way to tiny steps let into the concrete below. Tucked in neatly between other boats was a comparably big boat coated in bright yellow paint. Talking a closer look it became apparent that the boat was in need of a new layer of paint.

Her eyes wandered back to the boy. "You live on that boat?" she inquired wrinkling up her nose in disdain. The boy merely shrugged, leisurely puckering his lips as if it were nothing unusual. Taking a glance up and down this town canal Regina decided that the boy's reaction was understandable. It probably wasn't that unusual to meet people around here that spent more than the usual socially acceptable time on boats. And by that she meant a couple of hours of sailing. Then again she was confusing these boats with sailing boats now.

"Um..." the child cleared his throat and nodded towards where he was attempting to access the boat. Regina shook her head, clearing it from her thoughts. "Of course." she stepped aside to let him pass and watched him struggling down the tiny steps, which weren't really steps after all, were they?

"Are you sure you don't need help with that?" She frowned at herself in disbelieve, not being the type who'd offer help to random strangers on a daily basis. Was she turning soft? Certainly not. Yet, this boy clearly wasn't going to succeed in taking those beverages home safely. So she bent down, took both box and tray from him while he climbed down to then reclaim his breakfast of choice from her once he had stepped down securely. "Thanks!" he exclaimed smiling and stepped onto the boat.

When Regina walked back towards the building that was hosting the office, she could still see a blonde head coming to view in her peripheral vision.

"Who was that?" the woman asked. "Just some nice lady who helped me." The tone in his voice told Regina that the boy was most likely shrugging his shoulders again and she found herself smiling at the thought of that.

"Come on, kid, it´s cold, and I´m starving." The blonde stated, the boy following her inside. "Got you some bearclaws, mom."

SQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQ

Massaging her temples frustration slowly crept over her. She ran one hand through her hair and slammed her other palm onto her desk. "Then track him down, Sidney." Regina snapped at the man staring at her from her computer´s screen. This Skype conference had been nothing but disaster. As had the rest of her day. Nothing was working out the way it was supposed to. The little water inferno this morning had just tipped off a chain reaction of tiny little catastrophes that, bundled up, made one big Armageddon. "It surely can´t be that difficult to find him. He must have been hired by some other company by now." Sidney stared back at her from the screen emotionless. "Believe me, I have checked with the competition." Regina was growing more agitated. "Has it crossed your mind that maybe the competition is keeping their mouths shut? He has got valuable information after all." A field service worker running off with all the important information for the expo. Fabulous. Apparently no one knew what Henk had promised the clients for their stay in Amsterdam. Apparently no one knew whether he had taken some of the clients with him when moving on to some other company, either. "Our clients are expecting a certain standard when they come to the expo, Sidney. And while the clients from most countries have been taken care of, we have no idea what the delegation from Spain is going to expect when they come here. And don´t you dare tell me to just go and ask their group leader!" When she said that she looked to the other end of the room where Felix was dusting book racks and books minutely. Obviously paying for innocently mentioning that calling the clients in Spain would do the job. "Such display of embarrassment is not going to happen under my watch." They´d have to sue Henk. They would sue Henk. They would sue his children and generations of future Henks. "Miss Mills?" there was a careful knock at the door. "_What?_!" Regina thundered at the man who was trying to get her attention and was now charging towards her desk. "You need to sign these documents today so that..." This was a practical joke, wasn´t it? Who in their right mind would be stomping in here like some horse because of documents on a day like today, after business hours, knowing what had gone down with Henk? "This will have to wait until tomorrow." she hissed and turned back to resume her conversation with Sidney. "There is only so much I can do from here, Miss Mills." Sidney stated matter-of-factly. "In which case you should have been on your way over here hours ago. Make sure you catch the next possible flight. I am expecting you here tomorrow afternoon." And with those words she shut her laptop. "Miss Mills? I am terribly sorry but I am afraid I have to insist you sign these documents today so that the arrangements for accommodating the Spanish clients can be-" She snatched the papers from his hand. "The Spanish clients, you say?" Finally a glimpse of hope. Finally something that could be accomplished today. Her eyes quickly scanned the pages before she put her signature on the last paper and sighed relieved, dismissing both Felix and the intruder. At least she now knew where the Spanish clients would be staying. Apparently Henk had promised them a stay on a houseboat of some sorts. The obsession with boats in this city was beyond her she thought while moving over to the window. She shook her head and yawned, looking down at the shabby yellow boat. Dim light glowing through the tiny windows, making it possible to make out the silhouettes of a blonde mother and a lean boy having dinner. Tomorrow would be a better day.


	2. Chapter 2

_**(Disclaimer: I don´t own the OUAT characters.)**_

Sleep had come and gone. She had drifted in an out of it in what seemed like minutes but when she turned her head the alarm clock informed her that it had indeed been a couple of hours, though the sun wasn´t about to rise for another four hours. Rubbing her eyes she groaned grumpily and wanted to turn around to snuggle back into the pillow when she quickly sat up in her bed instead as she heard the metallic rattling sound. There it was again. That´s what had woken her in the first place. Someone was on the boat. Swinging her legs off of the bed in one fast move she jumped up, opened the cabinet above her bed, took out the required object for protection – a baseball bat – and crept towards the exit of the cabin, passing by Henry´s bunk. Her son was sound asleep, not startled by the noise at all. For a moment she stopped in her tracks, frowned and considered waking him but dismissed the thought quickly. The last time something like this had happened it had been a crane rumbling on deck. Henry had been scared to fall asleep for a complete week and she still blamed herself for frightening the poor boy just because of a stupid bird. She clearly remembered how much energy it had cost to convince her son that they were safe and that nothing would happen to him while he was asleep. No, she wouldn´t risk scaring him. Nothing could be out there that she wouldn´t be able to handle and if it tuned out to be something that could possibly endanger Henry, she´d still be able to warn him, wouldn´t she? She shook her head, there really was no right way in doing this, so she slowly unlatched the door and pushed it open as quietly as she possibly could. Sticking her head out first to glimpse into all directions she crawled out of the cabin one step at a time.

It was hard to make out her surroundings in the deep of the night but the light of a few street lamps in the distance granted some visibility. No one could be seen on this side of the boat. If there had been a crane it had obviously taken flight already. Clutching the baseball bat, the young woman became painfully aware of the fact that she hadn´t put on any warm clothes over her white tank top and pj shorts. The December air bit at her skin unforgiving, yet her palms were still sweaty and her heart was beating fast as she made her way around the cabin and walked along the railing to get to the front of the boat. A sudden rustle made her hunch down, her breath almost stuck in her lungs. There definitely was someone or something there. Her head peaked around the last corner carefully and her heart stopped for a second as she made out the silhouette of a man rummaging through the boxes of tools and utensils that she kept at the front of the boat. He appeared to be doing it cautiously in order not to call someone´s attention to himself but mumbled frustrated, not seeming to find what he was looking for. The woman used his state of concentration, or rather frustrated distraction, and sneaked up on him from behind, raising the bat high above his head. Her voice pierced the air around them violently and he spun around in shock. "Get your sorry ass off my boat at once!" she yelled at him and added "Ik wil dat je nu direct van mijn boot afgaat!" with some difficulty. There were only so many things she way able to say in Dutch but she managed to keep her voice firm, silently priding herself for asking a local how to tell someone to leave her boat in one moment of paranoid anticipation. It must have been shortly after the crane incident and she still remembered how discontent she had felt due to the fact that the local wouldn´t give her a more rude expression. While she was remembering that moment the man in front of her had evidently recovered from his first shock and was now eying the bat with a raised eyebrow to then move his attention back to her.

"Look, Swan, we can either make a whole big deal about this or you just give me what I am looking for and you can go back to sleep and enjoy the rest of your stay." Disbelieve clouded her eyes when she realized who the intruder was. "You!" Emma exclaimed fiercely.

"Mom? What´s going on?" she took down the bat when Henry´s voice broke through the night. "Everything´s alright, Henry. Go back to bed. It´s just a cat." There was a short pause. "Why do you get that mad at a poor cat?" She let out an exasperated sigh. "`Cause it got into one of the supply boxes, Henry. Go to bed, please." One short moment and the sound of the cabin door closing was heard. Emma closed her eyes as if trying to make the man in front of her eyes disappear but when she opened them again he was still there. "Okay, what do you want, Hook?" He smirked. "Oh, I think you know exactly what I came here for, Swan."

SQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQ

"Henry?" Where was he? She had woken to find his bunk empty. This time the sunlight had already crept into the cabin. What time was it anyway? Normally, she´d have cursed herself for sleeping in. Her alarm clock showed 9:30 and the sounds of ringing bicycle bells, roaring scooter engines and the excited voices of tourists speaking in all kinds of languages confirmed that it was way past her usual time to get up even though she still felt exhausted. But there was no time for cursing herself now for she was way too consumed by panic rising within her at the sight of her son missing, after last night´s events.

This time around she pushed open the cabin door forcefully and took in the surroundings, scanning the area for her son. "Henry?" she tried again. His reply came from near the landing. "I´m here!" He waved and smiled at her, holding up a paper bag that sported the logo of the nearby pastry corner shop. The kid had made it a habit to take breakfast into his own hands lately. Which usually looked like him fetching something from that shop and presenting it to his mother proudly. It was only a short walk from their boat to the bakery but they were in a foreign country after all and the eleven year old must think it to be one big adventure, providing breakfast that way. And being quite honest with herself she might have provoked that kind of behavior by repeatedly burning toast and eggs when attempting to cook on the cooker in the small cabin kitchen. Who could blame him? Plus, exclaiming that they made the best bearclaws in Amsterdam while munching them down might have been slightly encouraging. That, and the fact that she kept a small jar with change on one of the counters just in case Henry decided to make sure they got their morning nutrition. Emma´s shoulders relaxed for the briefest of moments, seeing that her son was alright.

Yet a tingling sensation washed over her shortly after that had the hair on her arms stand on end and this time it wasn´t because of the cold that clung to her like a cloak for she had left the cabin without putting on a jacket again. No, this was different and she vaguely remembered it happening the previous morning as well. Her gaze graced over Henry and landed on the person who her son happened to be talking to. She had caught a glimpse of the brunette woman the day before, Emma realized. It was the one who had helped Henry deliver the take away breakfast. Why was she here again, deep in conversation with her son? Did she live in the area? Given the sensible pant suit she was wearing Emma discarded that thought and opted for that woman to work in some fancy office around here. Nothing out of the usual and yet, the blonde didn´t appreciate the fact that Henry was conversing with her. Something about this didn´t feel right. Emma shivered, unable to get rid of the tingling sensation that ran through her. "Hey mom, this is Miss Mills. She´s from Maine, too! Can you believe it?" Henry called looking thrilled. He even rolled back and forth on his feet when he informed his mother about his exciting discovery. It was as if being tugged down. Of course, she could believe it. This wasn´t a coincide, was it? Moving over to the landing Emma focused on the woman. She must have been only a couple of years older than Emma and still she held a more mature aura to herself. When Emma locked eyes with her, brown meeting emerald, her suspicion was confirmed. The tugging sensation in the pit of her stomach only increased and she got lost in a daze momentarily. Was that a purple haze clouding the brunette´s eyes?

Emma snapped out of it when Henry introduced her to the brunette who blatantly gave her the once-over and held out her hand. The purple haze was gone and Emma wondered whether it had just been her sleep deprived brain playing tricks on her after all. She took her outstretched hand nearly expecting to be hit by some spark yet nothing happened as they shook hands. The smile the other woman was sporting was definitely well practiced, all politician, almost dangerous and yet strangely intriguing.

"So what brings you to Amsterdam, Miss Swan?" the brunette inquired in an almost sultry voice. Emma opened her mouth to answer a couple of times not finding the words to answer this question easily as pictures of Hook standing on deck of her boat in the middle of the night reappeared in her mind´s eye.

_**(Author´s note: A couple of short chapters to kick this story off. Don´t worry, future chapters are going to be longer.) **_


	3. Chapter 3

"_There´s no fight you can´t fight this battle of love with me_

_you win again_

_so little time we do nothing but compete _

_there´s no life on earth _

_nobody could see me through, you win again_

_some never try but if anybody can we can" - Yes, I totally wrote this chapter to the Bee Gees (You win again). _

One, two, one, two, one, two...her feet touched the damp street in staccato, almost stomping their way through the brisk morning light, gaining speed. Chilly air hit her lungs with every sweet breath she took, traveling through her system to energize it, giving her life at its purest to then be exhaled violently, evaporating into the day that lay ahead. Despite it being later than usual Emma had decided to not let her morning run go and had sped off right after having breakfast with Henry, when Peter, the local bakery owner´s oldest son, had arrived to babysit for a while.

Heaven knew she needed to let off some steam and clear her head. It always worked, it had always worked. Today she found it exceptionally difficult. She kept gaining speed in hope of finally being rewarded with a blank mind, yet she wasn't accomplishing anything. Pictures of Hook were chasing her but the longer she ran the more often the pictures of him were replaced by pictures of the regal business woman. Regal? Really? Pull yourself together, Emma! It was of no avail. Something wasn´t right here. The fact that this woman from Maine, of all places, randomly shows up around the same time her past catches up with her in the form if the pirate just couldn´t be coincidental, could it? Not to mention that Emma had clearly felt the signs of magic. The older woman had magic, she was sure of it.

And while in another place and time she might have been intrigued, might even have been fascinated, she had decided then and there that it would be a bad idea to have anything to do with that woman. She had asked Henry to not talk to her anymore after their brief encounter three days ago which proved to be a little tricky for the boy had somehow taken a liking in the stranger who, as he explained in many words, wasn´t a stranger after all for she was from Maine. Which meant they were practically neighbors. Emma was by no means one of those helicopter mothers who slipped into over protective phases. She still believed in the good in people, which was a great accomplishment given her past. Implementing a fear for strangers into her son certainly was nothing she ever wanted to do. Of course, she had told him to always be cautious and to trust his instincts. That came back to kick her right in the behind now, she noticed. For Henry´s instincts told him that the woman was kind and interesting and that they should have her over for dinner some time because he wanted his mother to have a friend, for all her other friends were all the way in Boston and he didn´t want her to feel alone here. And while she found that heart-warming, she tried her best to explain to Henry that they wouldn´t be staying in Amsterdam forever and that she was fine.

"Urgh, screw this!" she huffed and stopped, bending down to rest her hands on her knees to breathe in sharply. Was it about time to tell Henry the true reason for their sudden adventurous trip across Europe? She hated lying to the boy but meant to protect him from certain matters at all costs. So far he had been nothing but blissfully content seeing all these exciting new paces. Clearly, he enjoyed being home schooled as well. Though sometimes he´d complain how his former teacher would be able to explain things more comprehensible. Most of the time he learned on the go, learned from what they saw, the museums they visited, the hikes they did, the studying of architecture. Amsterdam, they found, was filled up to the brim with history and was strangely cosy as well. That´s why, for the first time in a while, they had decided to stay a little longer than usual. And since there hadn´t been any sign of what was threatening her since they had left for Europe months ago, Emma had lost herself in the silly notion that they were safe here. That they actually deserved to take a break and just enjoy life a little. And it had been perfect. For a few weeks they had led a peaceful life, enjoying the flair of the city. The houseboat they were staying on had been purchased by her for a price that was beyond belief and might have had to do with it being in such a bad state. The old man who had sold it to her wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible for he didn´t have the energy left to maintain it. He had rented it out to tourists for years but the accommodation just wasn´t living up to modern standards anymore. Originally, Emma had planned to stay somewhere on rent but the opportunity had leaped into her lap and she decided to make the best of it. She was going to sell it again when leaving Amsterdam for good.

"No." Emma said to herself in an attempt to hear someone confirm her intention, even if it was her own voice only. No, Henry needn´t know yet. He was entitled to a carefree life. Heck, he deserved a normal life, a life that was appropriate for an eleven year old boy. While right now that didn´t include a permanent home, he was happy and that´s what mattered most. Maybe she could hold up the pretense just a little bit longer. Maybe she could take care of Hook and they could stay just a little bit longer before they had to move on. After all, Hook hadn´t shown up again. So, yes, that´s how it was going to be. She could do this. Taking in another deep breath she turned around to head back.

She could already see the Mills woman engaged in deep conversation with her son from afar and anger tugged on her sleeve and pushed her forward faster. Arriving, she climbed on and pushed off the balustrade in one quick move and landed next to Henry on the landing, out of breath and determined. "Look, lady," she addressed the older woman. "I don´t know where your sudden interest in my son comes from but I don´t want you to talk to him anymore, ok?" Emma pulled Henry into a tight side hug, not noticing the uncomfortable look on his face. She didn´t care that she was being rude, she didn´t care that the woman looked baffled and was it a little crestfallen? The blonde shook that thought off and told Henry to go back inside the cabin to continue his homework. "I finished those ages ago!" he huffed offended and stomped back inside, slamming the door shut as hard as he was capable of doing.

"Miss Swan, I don´t know what this is all about but I can assure you that I mean no harm. We were merely conversing about-" Emma held up a hand to make the other woman stop talking which, and this secretly surprised Emma, worked. She took a few steps closer to the balustrade, grabbed the lower bar with her hands and looked up at the brunette who was towering her from the higher position. The blonde held the bar tightly, her knuckles showed prominently. She clenched her teeth together and spit out the words she meant more than anything. "Stay away from my son!" It sounded like a threat. Whether it had the desired effect was hard to tell. The older woman wasn´t moving an inch and locked eyes with her. Emma could see rage burning within the deep brown orbs but no reply in the form of words came. Instead, after what seemed like centuries, the brunette suddenly broke eye contact and purposefully darted away, leaving Emma feeling strangely hollow for a second.

Plunging on deck with one big plop, she announced her return to Henry.

Sure enough his exercise book was lying open on the small kitchen table so she could check his homework on her arrival. He hadn´t lied to her. Of course he hadn´t. "Where is Peter anyway?" Emma asked in frustrated confusion looking at Henry who was lying on top of his bunk concentrating on the screen of his Nintendo DS. No reply, just shoulder shrugging. Alright, no more babysitting duty for Peter, that much was apparent.

Emma pushed aside a couple of school books when a letter fell from the table. It must have been trapped under the mountain of books. It looked rather official and was addressed to a Mr deRuiter in print. Though the address had been crossed out and her name had been scribbled on the envelope to replace it. She wrinkled up her forehead for it was the first time she received mail here. "Henry, who brought that letter?" Since they had no mailbox, the boy must have taken it from someone. "It was Santa, mom." It was delivered by who? Henry looked up for a short moment and rolled his eyes, though he looked rather amused now. "A courier delivered it, of course. Sorry, forgot to tell you. It was delivered yesterday." Emma pressed her lips together affected. Fair enough, her question had been rather moronic, she thought while slipping her finger in the envelope to open it. The letter that came to view looked as official as the envelope had indicated. A firm logo was sitting in the top left corner. A tree that was framed by a thin circle. She eyed it curiously while listening to Henry who explained how the mailman had been looking for the old man who had sold the boat to Emma. So Henry had informed him about the sale. "And then he corrected the address field and mumbled something about having to inform _´KitchenStories´_ about that so the mistake won´t happen again and then I asked him..." His voice trailed off for Emma was paying attention to the letter´s content now.

SQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQ

An awkward silence had hung above the office all day. Miss Mills was out on business meetings and Felix was left organising documents while Mr Glass, who had arrived from Storybrooke a couple of days ago, was sitting at her desk making phone calls and typing away on the laptop feverishly. The intern was almost relieved when he heard her angry voice from somewhere in the distance indicating that she was returning.

"Can I ask you something?" Felix questioned while sorting through files, getting prepared for another long session at the copy machine. When Sidney didn´t answer Felix inquired anyway. "Why is she always that angry? It feels like she arrived here furious and hasn´t calmed down ever since. Has she always been like that?" Felix noticed right away that the man´s composure had changed from ignorant to bone-crushing interested when he arched an eyebrow and faced him. "May I ask _you_ something, Felix?" the young man swallowed audibly and nodded his head slowly. "How is it that you haven´t been dismissed yet?" Felix swallowed once more and hung his head, all of a sudden extremely interested in the files in front of him. He mumbled something incomprehensible and Sidney turned away again. "That´s what I though." he stated. And Felix got lost in a little self-analysis for the older man´s question hadn´t been merely threatening but held some truth. He had a tendency to ask or suggest matters that were entirely too unprofessional, as it seemed. Given the fact that he was walking on a minefield at work every day since the Miss Mills had taken over the office, it was a miracle he hadn´t been sent home yet. Surely, his former boss hadn´t sailed a homely ship but at least he hadn´t developed a paranoia under her reign. Nowadays, he winced at every sound coming from the direction of his boss´ desk, panicking whether he might have done something wrong. The new director of _´KitchenStories´_ had constantly been on the verge of snapping. He had seen rage boiling up in her eyes more often than he had seen it in the eyes of all of his foster brothers put together, and that meant something given the fact they hadn´t exactly been treated like little princes throughout their lives.

The only times Felix had witnessed his boss not huffing or groaning or furiously slamming her palms on the table, he thought, while now watching her stride into the room yelling into her phone, was when she was talking to that boy from down the street. Felix hadn´t meant to pry but found it impossible to rip his eyes off the picture that was playing in front of his eyes as he had looked outside the window one morning four days ago when Miss Mills was on her break. The fact that she was positively capable of holding a conversation without the usual amount of annoyance playing on her face had caught the intern off guard. Since that morning Felix had caught her chatting to the boy every time she stepped outside for her morning break and wondered how that boy was able to provoke that much of a difference in the woman´s attitude. Maybe it was the whole innocent cuteness factor? And she had come back in a slightly better mood every time except for today. Today she had be growling under her breath and had refused to see anyone for hours.

"We sell kitchens, not tickets to drag shows!" Regina roared into her phone. "No, no, absolutely not. You are not going to take out the German clients to that place. This isn´t about enjoying the sinful delights Amsterdam has to offer but about promoting our new kitchen models and hopefully making good deals. Think of something apple themed...Yes, I am serious, we are the only company in the business adding elements of Honey Crisp wood to the cabinets. Might make sense to work with that." The vein on her forehead showed prominently while she clung to her phone in an attempt to not lose control while the field staff employee rambled on. "Why, of course I know that they have to be entertained while they are here but I certainly don´t agree with your concept of entertainment. Take them out for dinner somewhere overlooking one of the canals if you can´t think of anything else."

When she saw Sidney sitting at her desk out of the corner of her eye she hung up on the employee, having brought her point across.

She promptly addressed Sidney not giving him the chance to greet her. "Enlighten me." she requested and pointed for him to move and take seat in the chair opposite hers, the desk separating them now. Sidney cleared his throat and rubbed his forehead. He looked exhausted altogether. Dark circles under his eyes indicated that he hadn´t gotten a lot of sleep lately. In fact, he had been working hard ever since traveling to Amsterdam. "Well, we still don´t know anything about Henk´s whereabouts but I managed to retrieve some information as to what he had planned for the Spanish clients´ stay here. We looked into the matter of accommodation, as you know, seeing that you signed the papers yourself." Regina nodded. The houseboat lodging, right. "And you´ll be pleased to hear that two of the tenants already agreed to move their boats for the time of expo which leaves us with only one more, though that should not be too much of a difficult affair." Sidney looked very pleased with himself, the woman noticed which was all the more infuriating for she had no clue what he was talking about and it was beginning to dawn on her that it was her own fault for not thoroughly reading the papers she had signed. Sidney had worked for her long enough to notice her discomfort and explained. "You are aware that the houseboat the delegation is going to stay on is about to sit at the landing right in front of the office building? Seeing that all the other ones nearby that are for rent are too small or too old, Henk seems to have taken the liberty to book a more suitable one that is supposed to be anchored right here. The owners and tenants of three of the boats currently set here have been forwarded a compensation offer which, as it turns out, was something Henk discussed with Mrs Mills last month already. Basically all we had to do was to go forward with that plan."

"You know it´s only two more days until the expo? Why haven´t we heard back from the third houseboat owner yet?" Regina inquired, not at all impressed and developing a headache thinking about her mother´s exaggerated ideas and disproportionate expenses for one week of display. A small spark within her sprang to life for a brief moment. "No. Forget about that. Call it off, we are not making people move just because of a handful of Spanish men in suits." She waved her hands dismissively to reinforce her change of mind. The spark inside of her became a flame. A little victory over her late mother, a little rebellion. And it felt energizing, freeing. "Book them into a hotel. If they are any interested in our kitchens at all they shouldn´t mind." Sidney averted his eyes, a mix of emotions showing on his tired face. There was understanding for he thought he had an idea of where that sudden change of mind originated in. But more than that there was frustration, for it´d mean all these past days of working hard on this had meant nothing at all. It was hard to swallow this pill and yet he did.

"Fine. I will have Miss Swan informed first thing in the morning, since we haven´t heard back from her, yet, I believe she won´t be fazed by this. The other tenants might proof a little more difficult seeing that they might have made arrangements already." Sidney conceded. But all his disappointment was washed away when a sudden fire in Regina´s eyes indicated something he had said must have staggered something within the brunette. "What did you say is the last tenant´s name was?" she inquired, leaning over the desk. He rummaged through a few papers and retrieved the one he was looking for and read the name again. "It´s Miss Emma Swan." He studied the paper for a moment. "I believe she owns the yellow houseboat down there."

Regina rose from her chair gracefully, all but triumphantly and the flame within her changed its colour and its course from silent rebellion to raging vengeance as she walked over to the window to look down on the canal where the boat sat peacefully.

"Sidney, I changed my mind." she purred dangerously. "You are going to do everything you possibly can to go forth with things the way they were planned. We are going to make sure Miss Swan has that houseboat moved." An evil grin started to show on her face and a hint of purple sparked her eyes as she bathed in the sweet promise of challenge. And silently, so that only her own ears were able to perceive the words, she added: "Isn´t that right, _Miss Swan_?"

_**Author´s note: Did you know you need a mooring permit for houseboats in Amsterdam? Apparently Emma doesn´t. Durn-durn-durn...**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Author´s note: Thanks to everyone who sent feedback. :) **_

_**I am going post weekly chapters from now on. Probably on Saturdays or Sundays. (Whenever I can I will try and upload additional chapters during the week, too.) Have the next chapters outlined and looks like this is going to be a longer story. **_

The damn letter had been sitting on the counter staring at her mercilessly. She had wanted to ignore it and yet it kept glaring at her. After picking it up and putting it back down for a couple of times, her chores getting cut off time and again, Emma had chucked it into the bin where it then sat screaming. She swore she could hear it calling out to her. The truth was, she could have used the money for extended travelling and covering her tracks but she had made a decision and that decision was based on Henry´s happiness. The boat would stay in place and they´d stay in Amsterdam a little longer.

Scrubbing the dirt that had sedimented on deck over the years, Emma failed to notice the person standing next to the boat for a while. When she finally looked up the slender man stood there stark and stiff, not moving a muscle, boring dark stern eyes into hers. A young man stood behind him, greyish blond hair, tall, looking all the more apologetic. Noting he had Emma´s attention the prim man spoke. "Good morning, Miss Swan. My name is Sidney Glass, I represent _´KitchenStories_´, I take it you received our letter the other day?"

"Seriously?" Emma questioned annoyed. "What are you? Some kind of mafia sending out the messenger?" Sidney didn´t show any form of reaction but spoke. "Since we haven´t heard back from you I took the liberty to look into your case." Emma shoved the mob into the nearest corner and folded her arms defensively. "My case?" What was going on?

"You bought this boat house from Mr deRuiter four weeks ago. Mr deRuiter never informed the authorities about this." Sidney paused for effect. "Interestingly though, neither did you, Miss Swan. None of the records at the Water Management Department show you applied for a new permit." As much as Emma tried to stay unfazed and even though she didn´t say a word, her face gave her away. She was negatively surprised this conversation seemed to be headed into a rather unpleasant direction. "You are aware you need a new mooring permit for your", he glanced up and down the yellow ruin of a boat house, "Your _home_." Emma swallowed. Of course she wasn´t under the impression that the boats could be placed without permission but had, so far, trusted that once a houseboat sat at a certain place, everything was settled. Seemed like she had been wrong about this which became apparent when mafia-guy went on. "A mooring permit, Miss Swan, must be applied for by the new owner of the houseboat who also needs proof of ownership." Emma swallowed again. Proof? It´s not like she had any form of contract. The old guy had wanted to get rid of that boat as much as she and Henry had needed a roof above their heads. It had been sold in an uncomplicated and carefree haze, she thought, while Sidney went on. "A mooring permit is tied to the person, mooring place and boat. Should changes occur, such as sale or replacement, a new permit has to be applied for. Now, while I wanted to inform you that I can make sure once you apply for conversion of the houseboat a permit would be granted instantly, you can imagine my surprise finding out you don´t even have a permit to begin with." Emma turned and headed towards the cabin door, wanting to end this conversation for she didn´t trust herself not saying anything she´d regret later on. She needed space to think. Closing the door behind her she heard the man´s last remark and it left a bitter sensation. "I would like to inform you that should you apply for a permit now, which you most certainly have in mind, permission is going to be denied. What´s more, the authorities are going to be informed about the fact that you lived here without mooring permit for a month already."

"Go to hell!" she yelled, sticking her head out once more to then vanish inside. The door fell shut behind her. There had to be something she could do.

SQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQ

´_Meestal verlenen we opnieuw een ligplaatsvergunning._´ Emma squinted at the words trying to make sense of them. She scanned the leaflet...no translation into English. Everything in this city was available in English. Why was this the only exception? She sank down on one of the seats in the waiting area. "It says that they usually grand new permits." the guy in the seat next to her said, noticing her loss of comprehension. Her head jerked up hopefully. "So this shouldn´t be a problem then?" She asked, waving the leaflet in front of his eyes. "Nah, they just need your ID and proof of ownership. Unless, of course, your houseboat needs some special permit but that´s hardly ever the case." The local explained. Obviously, he was some sort of little expert, probably did this a couple of times before. "So, basically, I just ask the previous owner about a sale and purchase agreement?" He shook his head and pointed to a page in the leaflet. "Look, here it says ´_De koopovereenkomst is geen bewijs van eigendom.´_ Meaning you need a signed deed or a copy of entry in the register of real estate. The purchase agreement won´t be enough." Emma sighed discontent and buried her face in her hands, mumbling unintelligible swearwords before slowly getting up, thanking the local for his kind help and leaving the Waternet office.

Back home she told Henry they needed to talk and proposed leaving the city to move on to the next place over a cup of hot chocolate with and cinnamon. It didn´t surprise her much when Henry answered in protest, whipped cream sticking to his upper lip, stating he liked Amsterdam. Then he paused for a second, deep in thought to ask: "Does that mean we´re going back to Portland?" Emma shook her head. "Or Boston?" he dug deeper. There had been half a year in which they had lived in Boston before leaving for Europe. It had been Emma´s first attempt to get away from what was haunting her thoughts and who was haunting her serenity. She shook her head once more. "Look, I was thinking about France. There are some lovely places and-"

"No!" he cut her off and went on explaining, in many words, that it was Boston or Amsterdam but that he had no interest in moving to yet another new place. Emma couldn´t blame her son. She had had to move countless times when she was his age and a bit older. Not all the way to Europe, of course, but from foster home to foster home and she had hated having to get accustomed to the new surroundings again and again, developing a tiny bit of hope to only be disappointed once more when the foster families decided she couldn´t stay or when she ran away. And while she had hated it, she had grown accustomed to not staying in one place for long, she was used to running away. The only time she had settled down was when she had Henry, in an attempt to give him the home she had never had. And she managed to keep that stability up for ten years. It had broken her heart having to move to Boston and then leaving for the trip across Europe but since Henry had always assumed they´d be back soon, he had been content and happy. Lately though, it seemed to dawn on him that things were taking longer than expected and seeing him now, expressing clearly that he was tired of moving around had sorrow rising up in Emma´s stomach. But there was no way they could go back to Boston now. So she was left with one option only if she wanted to make her son happy. She had to find a way to get the permit and keep the boat house where it was. And there was one more thing she thought she could do to make this work. Grabbing the letter from the counter and putting on her red leather jacket she went to leave. "Come on Henry, there´s someone I need to see." The boy downed the rest of his hot chocolate, threw on his scarf so that it was dangling down his neck loosely and tagged along.

SQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQ

Regina turned away from the window to face Sidney when he and Felix walked in. "So, what did she say?" she inquired. "She very eloquently asked for me to join the underworld." he summed their conversation up and his boss almost snorted with laughter but regained composure within a split second."Of course she did."

She didn´t know the blonde woman but had an idea of what she was like. Those few words they had exchanged and that short moment they had shared the other day were enough to give Regina a general impression of Emma Swan. That woman wouldn´t go down without fighting and Regina was looking forward to it. It felt like forever since she had been challenged and she had grown bored. That, and controlled. There was no concoction more destructive than that. All of Regina´s life so far was spent in Cora´s shadow. Her mother was the one who made all the decisions. Every step in life Regina took had previously been planned precisely by Cora. While Regina had always tried and found her little secret recess spots she had never been able to fully escape her mother´s fangs. The woman was stoic, relentless and cruel and hid all of it under the cover of ´just wanting what´s best for her daughter´. And heaven forbid things would change after her death. No, Regina still found herself cleaning up behind her mother. Her mother who had always encouraged her to use her magic for family benefit. Her mother who had deliberately forced her into ascertaining dark magic. Prestige and power had always been Cora´s only drive and there was nothing the matriarch wouldn´t have done in order to obtain these essentials. Wealth had been a big part of it and it came with the company´ s success. Regina had tried so hard over the past year to refrain from using magic. It was her silent protest. And now that Cora was gone, yet still had a grip on her, it was even harder because she was so very angry and anger always provoked magic to resurface. It took all of her willpower to keep it at bay. She needed another outlet. An enemy that was essentially superable for a change. Yet someone who wouldn´t bore her. Someone who´d defy her. And Emma Swan was exactly that someone. Regina also knew that there was more to the woman than that. She knew her interest in Emma Swan wasn´t solely aiming at easing her hunger for challenge but that was a thought she shoved right to the very back of her mind as soon as it tried to sprout. She wasn´t nearly ready to admit something like that to herself yet.

Sidney broke her chain of thought when he went on to explain what had transpired. She nodded and he soon left for a meeting and Regina returned to her desk to resume work until the late hours of the afternoon when commotion from the lobby cut her concentration and eventually had all of her attention. "Felix, go check on the source of this unholy disturbance and make sure to let them know that there are people who are trying to work here." She waved towards the door and Felix shuffled away obediently. Closing the door behind him, he followed the voices and ended up right in the lobby.

"Really? Who´s in charge here?" Emma grew impatient. The receptionist continued to chew her gum and glared at her with the most dull expression Emma had ever seen on anyone. She had been trying to get that chick to utter more words than ´I´m sorry but...no.´ It had to be possible to talk to someone about this stupid letter. "Ugh." she let out a frustrated huff. "Can´t you just give me the name of the person who´s responsible for this?" The receptionist typed away on her laptop and watched the screen emotionless, letting out a practised "Mr Glass is currently in a meeting. I´m afraid you´ll have to come back later." Before she knew it, she had raised her voice and lost her temper, not noticing Henry´s discomfort. He was standing a little distance away and pretended to be studying the pictures that graced the walls of the huge lobby. "Look, I don´t want to talk to Mr Glass, I want to see his superior!" Emma´s voice echoed with force.

Felix felt a lump in his throat watching the scene unfold. What could he possibly say to make the woman lower her voice? She seemed so very enraged and determined that he woudn´t stand a chance. Plus, he didn´t even feel the urge to tell her anything she should do, for he had a knowing feeling as to why she was here and, frankly, he got it. He didn´t like the fact that the company was interfering with people´s lives like that at all. Never having had a real home, never having had the chance to stay under one and the same roof for long, Felix was appalled by what was happening. All of it for one week of kitchen talk and people pretending to be friends and liking each other while they talked behind each other´s backs but didn´t mind because at the end of the day, all everyone cared about were sales figures and good deals. So the intern found himself still standing at the same spot he had reached when entering the lobby, watching. Despite the fact that the power of persuasion wasn´t a strong suit of his anyway, he didn´t have it in his heart to tell the blonde mother to stop fussing about the possible loss of her home and wanting to see someone about it.

"All I can do is book you in for an appointment with Mr Glass. I can check when he´s got-" the receptionist slurred and the last tiny bit of patience that had still been clinging to Emma for dear life loosened its grip and fell to then crash and be gone from sight. She squinted her eyes together and fixed the younger woman dangerously. "Which part of what I said before is so hard to understand? I demand to speak to someone from the management board. Someone superior to Mr Glass. Someone who-"

"What is all the fuzz about?" a husky voice reached the pair standing at the reception desk and when Regina entered the lobby she was met with various sets of eyes staring at her in shock or disbelief. The receptionist and Felix both glared back and forth between Regina and each other, fearing that there´d be hell to pay for not having the situation under control. Henry glanced at her in utter surprise that slowly provoked a grin on his face and Emma, stared her down almost deliriously. "You?"

SQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQ

"So, um, you want some orange juice or something?" Felix asked awkwardly. "Orange juice sounds great." Henry answered thankfully and Felix left for a minute to return with two small bottles of orange juice. He´d been looking after the boy for what felt like ages while his boss and Miss Swan had retreated to her office to discuss things. Every now and then they´d hear one of the women verbally attacking the other and both Henry and Felix were particularly uneasy by now. "I´m really sorry about this." Felix felt the need to apologize. "It´s ok. This is just stage one." the boy returned. "Stage one?" the intern was slightly confused. "Yes." Henry shrugged unimpressed. "They´ll be friends soon." Felix, who had just taken a big sip from his bottle, choked and spit out some orange juice. He pointed to the door when angry voices were noticeable once more. "Am I the only one hearing that?" he inquired. Another shrug from the boy. "Like I said, they have to get over stage one first." Felix shook his head and laughed disbelieving. "Sure. Whatever you say, man."

The door to Regina´s office sprang open and the brunette exited first, followed by a stomping Emma. "We´re not done talking yet! You haven´t nearly answered half of my questions." she snapped. "Miss Swan, I believe that the situation seems to be quite obvious. You either move the houseboat voluntarily or Mr Glass will have it moved." Emma was furious. The conversation hadn´t exactly transpired the way she´d hoped it would. Starting with the fact that Mr Glass´ superior turned out to be the brunette she had hoped to never cross paths with again. So she hadn´t just talked to a stiff brick wall of a person who wouldn´t budge an inch, no, on top of that her mind went crazy whispering sneaky suspicions about magic and questions about the way the woman could be connected to Hook or whoever was behind this.

"This is ridiculous. How does mafia-guy do that anyway?" Regina spun around and took a few steps towards the blonde, locking eyes. "What are you insinuating?" she hissed. Emma waved the letter at her, clenching it in her fist, it was all crumpled already. "You aren´t trying to tell me that there is an honest way a kitchen company can possess that much money that they can just shove it into people´s faces!" Regina smirked. "While that should be none of your concern, I can assure you that I don´t know what you´re getting at. ´KitchenStories´ happens to be rather successful." Emma let out a short dark laugh and lowered her voice. "Oh don´t act all innocently stupid! It doesn´t suit you. You know exactly what I´m talking about." Regina took another step closer to the blonde. "What _are_ you talking about, Miss Swan?" Emma moved forward slowly and effectively closed the gap between them, invading the other woman´s personal space so that they were sharing the same air. "_This_." she whispered fiercely and her eyes flared up. Just for a second Regina could see the magic haze in her opponent´s eyes, when emerald mixed with white sparks. She sharply breathed in and her eyes wandered back and forth between Emma´s in an attempt to see more of what had already passed. To reassure herself she hadn´t just seen what she had so obviously seen. And felt. Taking a few steps back everything around her felt suddenly distant. Trapped inside her own head she still perceived Emma´s steady gaze but didn´t manage to notice the anxious looks both Felix and Henry gave her. All colour was gone from her face as she stood there, shocked, for a moment. Her head kept spinning, her mind went blank. All she knew was that she had to get away from here when a panic set in deep down her stomach, taking over her heart. Quickly, she crossed her hands in front of her body, uncrossed them again in one fluent wave and

gave in to the magic that built up inside of her. A swirl of purple smoke encased her and when it dissolved she was gone.

"Mom?" Henry looked from the spot on which Regina had still been standing seconds ago to his mother. His voice was shaking. "What just happened?"

_**Author´s note: Next chapter will lead us back to Storybrooke! :) Also, I promise things are FINALLY going to start to make sense in chapter 5. Reviews are very welcome!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Author´s note: Enjoy your weekly update. We´re back in Storybrooke. Yay! I´m sorry if this one is a bit short but I am drowning in tests that need to be corrected if I don´t want my students to complain. Hope you´ll enjoy this chapter anyway. :) **_

The atmosphere at Granny´s Diner could only be described as gloomy. Leroy and some of his now newly former co-workers were picking their food with their forks instead of actually eating it. Especially Leroy seemed to be attacking his meal absent-mindedly and only stopped when Granny complained about the predominant disrespect for the deliciousness that was sitting on their plates. "It´s been a week. Pull yourself together." she scolded. Leroy, who was obviously hung over, grunted. "One week of nothing to do. Of living on a dime." Granny cocked an eyebrow while wiping the counter clean. "And free meals. You´re welcome." Leroy shut his mouth, well knowing that he couldn´t argue that.

"But Regina will surely be back." Dr. Hopper said, entering and taking a seat next to Leroy at the counter. "I dunno." One of the guys said. "The message issued to the staff that was discharged was pretty clear. Stating that Mr Glass has taken over all responsibility. Miss Mills is completely out of the picture. And the executive consultant, which Mr Glass brought in, definitely did a great job, didn´t he? Those optimizing operations save the company quite a bit of money." Leroy got up and trotted away. "Well, no more kitchen building for me." he mumbled. When asked where he was headed, he added "Can´t all lock ourselves away in our big mansion, can we? Some of us actually need to find a new job." The door fell shut behind him after his exit. "Is he saying that Regina still hasn´t left her house?" Dr. Hopper questioned concerned. She hadn´t shown up to her last appointment but he hadn´t worried about it too much at the time, for it happened every now and then. Even though Regina appreciated punctuality and reliability in general, she didn´t always take it very well when Dr. Hopper suggested she should return for another session. She basically only showed up whenever she felt the need to talk. Yet, hearing that the usually self-assured woman hadn´t made an appearance in town all week had him wondering.

No one except for Granny noticed the talk young man entering to order a cup of coffee.

SQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQ

An air of abandonment hung over the empty rooms of the mansion which sat quietly adjoining Mifflin Street. While the lights were on and therefore proof of someone dwelling here, the silence clung heavy to walls, the interior and the one person that was presently kneeling on the floor of the study in midst piles of boxes and items spread everywhere. Items that waited to be discarded. Regina took turns picking up an item a time to drop it in one of the boxes labelled "storage", "charity" and "trash" and taking sips of cider from the small tumbler that sat next to her on the carpet in the middle of the room. Each item out of sight was followed by the delightfully burning sensation of cider. Each item out of sight simultaneously filling her with feelings of freedom and emptiness. There was a vault in her heart that screamed for attention but was silenced by sip after sip of cider. While storing away every item that had belonged to Cora or was given to her by Cora or even reminded her of her mother somehow, Regina had lost all track of space and time, was lost in her own world of thoughts and memories. Mostly, thoughts of Amsterdam and how she had lost it in front of Emma Swan crept into her consciousness. As much as she tried to suppress those images, they kept flaring up.

Trying to distance herself as much as possible from Cora had always meant distancing herself from magic. But she had failed miserably. She had seen the magic in Emma´s eyes and the blonde had suddenly posed a threat. Magic was like an addiction. Once you felt it you couldn´t turn away from it. Like a force so much stronger than you, pulling you in. Controlling it and then abstaining from it had cost Regina a great deal of energy and will power. And then Emma Swan waltzed in and that familiar pull was back. She had felt that trigger so strong that it was overwhelming. There was the temptation, there was the possibility to fall back into addiction. How ironic that it was magic that got her away from magic that day in Amsterdam. Regina would be lying to herself if she said it didn´t feel amazingly refreshing, empowering. And not using magic this week had been so very difficult. She felt miserable. Having to deal with magic or rather not dealing with it was one thing but what pained her more was that she had exposed her magic to several bystanders. Surely, Emma Swan wasn´t unfamiliar to it, so it was only likely her son knew about magic as well but what about Felix? Knowing him, he probably must have had a mental breakdown after witnessing her little act. Whether her assumption was correct she wouldn´t know, for she had unplugged both home and office line, switched off her cell phone and refused to check her mails as well. She hadn´t talked to or seen a single person all week, ever since she had transported herself right from Amsterdam to her mansion. That action had worn her of. It had taken a great deal of magic to bridge that distance which led to her practically staying in bed for two days due to the high level of exhaustion she had experienced. When she had finally crawled out of bed, taken a shower and had breakfast – oatmeal, for she found there was nothing else left in the kitchen - she had begun redecorating and cleaning the house. She had dusted every cabinet, vacuumed every carpet, cleaned all floors probably more than just once. Whenever she felt safe that Mifflin Street wasn´t busy, she had tended to the garden, though there wasn´t much she could do out there, seeing it was December and not much was actually growing around this time of year. When she found she had gathered every item that could possibly have any connection to Cora, she got boxes from the storage room and now found herself organizing everything into the assigned boxes.

She had lived on oatmeal for breakfast and some leftover meals from the freezer the last couple of days. That and probably way too much cider. This, of course, didn´t contribute positively to her general state. Her quest to sober up from magic, she found, could be held up by occupying herself with all those household chores but her mind was a tricky monster and more than once she was met with thoughts of Emma Swan. If she accomplished to successfully suppress those thoughts at daytime, pictures of the blonde would present themselves to her at night when she was dreaming. Pictures that disturbingly couldn´t mainly be associated with magic. But those dreams didn´t mean anything, did they? She was just confused due to the magic she had been exposed to the week before.

A loud knock at the door shattered the silence clinging to the house and Regina winced in disbelieved shock, then sighed. It was probably Dr. Hopper. It had only been a matter of time for him to show up. He´d be the only one in town who´d, in fact, care about why she didn´t leave the estate any more. For a long moment she kept staying right where she was, considering to not answer the door. She didn´t want to see anyone. Yet, if she´d talk to anybody now, the only person she could think of that would be suitable to confide in was the shrink, she had to admit. When another persistent knock was heard, she finally got up slowly, smoothed out the material of the grey pair of trousers and the white blouse she was wearing and moved into the entrance hall to open the front door. A few feet from the door she stopped and hesitated. Was she ready to face someone? A voice broke the silence and she breathed in deeply, almost gasping. This wasn´t Dr. Hopper. "I know you´re in there." followed by another four knocks. She stood and faltered when she recognized the voice. "I´m not gonna go away. I´m gonna wait here and I´m gonna come back every day until you open the door." Was she dreaming? Was this really happening right now? How was it even possible? She stepped forward hesitantly and opened the door unhasty, looking at the voice´s owner, a young boy wearing a backpack and a lopsided scarf dangling from his neck. "Henry?"

The boy passed her by and stomped into the building, not needing an invitation. As if having some sort of inbuilt GPS, Henry headed straight for the kitchen, seemingly owning this place. Regina followed him completely dumbfounded and watched him going through fridge and cabinets. "Don´t you have any orange juice?" he queried but eventually found it on his own, grabbed a glass from one of the cabinets and helped himself to a big gulp of the orange refreshment.

"What are you doing here?" Regina finally managed to utter. The boy sat the glass down on the kitchen isle. "I need your help." The woman stared at him entirely flabbergasted. "How did you even get here? Where is your mother?" The boy slung down his backpack. "That´s what I am trying to say. My mom needs help. Hook´s got her."

This certainly must be a side effect of this week´s malnutrition combined with the cider escapades. Though she was confidently sure that she had only had half a glass of cider yet today, she just didn´t want to believe the words that had left Henry´s mouth. "Hook? How does Emma know Hook?" she exhaled terrified when noticing that she had just called the boy´s mother by her first name, something she had only done in her dreams so far. And more terrified about the familiar feel of the woman´s name on her lips. But a more important question was coming to the fore. What did the sneaky pirate have to do with Emma? "He´s got her? As in, he captured her?" Regina asked further. Henry nodded in affirmation. "Felix said you can help."

This was getting more and more bizarre by the minute. "Felix?" The boy drank up his orange juice and continued. "Yes, he helped me to get here." Yet, why wasn´t he here? "He wanted me to come alone first because he says you´d be angry with him. So he is at the diner." Regina didn´t even dare ask more questions and decided to join the boy at the kitchen isle. She leaned her elbows on it and motioned for him to continue to speak. The more he said, the more silent she grew, frowning deeply.

Henry explained how, after she had magically disappeared a week ago, Emma had grown uneasy. Henry had riddled his mother with questions about magic and she had done her best to answer as many of those as possible but something hadn´t felt right. He may only be eleven years old but he wasn´t stupid and he knew his mother. She usually took things as they came and was laid-back and generally tough if need be but that day she had seemed throughout anxious about something but would assure him that everything was fine.

Regina noticed how the boy had miraculously handled the situation quite well. It came as a surprise to her that Henry hadn´t known anything about magic before which must mean that he hadn´t seen his mother practising it, which then again must mean that Emma had focused on keeping it from her son. Still, Henry had apparently absorbed the news even-tempered. He sat there all composed talking about these things as if he´d always known about them.

Evidently, the night after Regina had left, Henry had woken to his mother being in a heated conversation with someone on deck. He had snuck out of the cabin to see what was going on and saw her arguing with a guy that was all dressed up as a pirate, even wearing a fake hook. Of course, _now_ Henry knew that neither had the hook been fake nor had the guy been wearing a costume. Just when Henry had been about to ask what the problem was, he witnessed the pirate throwing something tiny into the water. The houseboat had started to shake uncontrollably and Henry had fallen. From his position he could barely take in how the water began to swirl and a vortex formed, glowing all greenish in the dark night. He witnessed Hook trying to grab hold of Emma to throw her into that vortex and had seen how his mother was struggling and defending herself. Managing to stand up, Henry had even advanced the pirate from behind and, grabbing the next best object lying around, he had knocked it on the guy´s head. But given the fact that Henry was rather small for his age and hardly reached the target point, the pirate only flinched irritated. Emma had started for another attack but to no avail. Eventually, Hook had managed to throw her down that vortex and jumped right in behind her. Within seconds the swirl had been gone, the water calm and the boat not shaking any more. And Henry had been standing there all alone. Hadn´t it been for Felix witnessing everything from the window of the office building above – why ever the intern was still working at that time of night was beyond her – Henry would have spent the rest of the night helpless and worried. However, it had taken Felix only a few minutes to come to Henry´s aid.

And it was this part of Henry´s recollection of the events that had transpired in Amsterdam that caused Regina all but to fall apart on the inside. Felix, it appeared, had been the keeper of many secrets, even though the intern seemingly didn´t know the complete picture. Still, he had explained to Henry that there was no need to worry for, finally, the instructions of his former boss - Cora Mills- were making sense. For she had told him that it was essential for her daughter to get to Amsterdam and to cross paths with Emma Swan. "Felix knew that we had to find you because you´re the only one able to get my mom back." Henry finished.

Had all of this been Cora´s plan? Had her mother seen this coming? Why hadn´t she told her? Or had she actually planned to do that but then failed because of her sudden death? Regina´s heart was racing and so were her thoughts. Why was it that she could never escape her mother´s plans? It angered her. It angered her even more that this kind, smart boy had to be dragged into all of this. His life being turned upside down and him being separated from his mother. It was hard to breathe easy. If all of this had been calculated by her mother, everything within Regina revolted against moving even a finger now, not wanting to fall into her trap. But for all that, glancing at the boy opposite to her, she couldn´t find it in her heart to send him away. "Henry, where is your father?" There. Maybe one last chance to escape from this. Yet, the boy just shrugged. "Don´t know him." was all he had to say about this and Regina sighed heavily.

"Do you know where my mom is?" The question threw her off guard and she opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before she finally answered. "Well, no, Henry, I´m sorry." she paused, noticing disappointment on the boy´s face. "There are a few places that come to mind though. For what I gather from what you tell me, Henry, a portal was opened by Hook that night and there are only so many places those can take you to." Henry instantly beamed. "So we can go there and take her back!" If only the conclusion was that obvious. "_That_ is the difficult part." Regina began to explain carefully, not knowing how to say this without crushing the boy´s heart. "We can´t just go to those places. In order to travel the realms you need a trigger that can open a portal. A trigger of that kind currently isn´t in my possession." He frowned for a moment to then state his plan as a matter of course. "We need to find a trigger then. This will be our mission. We only need a name..." he trailed off. "No, Henry, wait. This isn´t as simple as you think it is." Why on earth had her mother told Felix she´d be able to help? If only there was a way to communicate with her late mother now. The questions she´d ask her were uncountable. Wait. Communication. That might be an approach that wouldn´t necessarily be an impossible task to accomplish. There were ways to communicate with someone from another realm. Regina wondered whether it´d actually be possible to find a way to get in touch with Emma. Her heart did a tiny little somersault at the thought of that and, startled, she pushed the feeling away forcibly.

A couple of hours later Regina knocked at the door of one of the guest rooms upstairs and entered quietly. Henry was tucked in bed and looked utterly exhausted but confident. "So we´ll go to that vault first thing in the morning?" he asked, his eyes about to fall shut.

After their conversation this evening and finding out that Felix had managed to fly across the Atlantic with Henry, for he possessed some sort of legal document that Cora had handed to him ages ago, Regina had finally left the house for the first time in days. Heading down to the diner first, she assured Felix that there was going to be hell to pay for keeping secrets but that now was not the time and informed him that Henry would be staying at the mansion for the time being, while he should book a room at Granny´s bead & breakfast. After running into an exceptionally grumpy and exceptionally drunk Leroy who spit out accusations at her, she picked up grocery on her way back home to provide dinner. The boy had basically devoured the lasagna and grew sleepy soon afterwards.

"Yes." she finally answered and sat on the edge of the bed. "Tomorrow we´ll go to my vault and see if we can find some answers. Maybe there´s a way we can talk to your mother." Henry finally gave in to exhaustion and closed his eyes. "We should call it Operation Mongoose." he mumbled before drifting off. "Operation Mongoose it is." Regina whispered, gently brushing down Henry´s messy hair with her hand. There was something about the boy that felt familiar. And while she was still angry at her mother and confused about the whole situation, she felt a lot more calm now looking at a sleeping Henry. And the more she thought about it, the more she came to the conclusion that something about this felt right.

_**Author´s note: No Emma in this one? Wait what? I am cruel. But don´t worry. We´ll tune in with Emma again before you know it.**_


End file.
